SUMMARY: Robert Singer, who markets SportsLife franchises to would-be entrepreneurs, found himself with a list of 5,000 old, cold sales leads on his hands. Each one of the names had definitely opted-in to get more information from SportsLife, but it had been a while back. As any good sales rep will tell you, a cold sales lead is practically worthless.

SportsLife, a vendor of business franchises, needed to revive old business leads. Marketing Director, Robert Singer, decided that email was the route to reach, revive, and sort through this large list of leads.

Singer had management experience, but no marketing experience, so he had to rely on common sense to craft a campaign that these leads would respond to.

His first pass at sending email to a list of leads interested in starting their own business had not gone exactly as planned. It had been thrown together too quickly. "We were offering three specials at once and when responses started coming back I was overwhelmed, sometimes I didn't even know which special offer each email was responding to."

Singer had found himself sitting at his desk all day long processing incoming replies. Singer recalls, "It wasn't a one man job, and it could have been better executed, but I had to grit myteeth and bear it till I made it through."

After the dust settled, Singer's challenge was to make the most of the 5,000 names of people who had shown interest in starting their own business by responding to the email. But what was the best way to turn leads into sales? How could he rekindle their interest in SportsLife?

CAMPAIGN

The cost of calling each person on the phone would be too high. Email would have to provide the answer.

SportsLife did not want to resort to high-pressure sales because it is not part of their philosophy as a business, and it is not cost effective.

First, Singer decided to play on their previous curiosity by reminding them of their initial response. He appealed to them with design and content that was more personal.

The new email differed from the original campaign that encouraged the leads to respond in three critical ways:

1. The Deal

The new email offered the SportsLife package that had originally been marketed for $99 for free. "If it was free, and they really wanted to start their own business, there was no longer a cost dilemma," says Singer.

SportsLife realized that the customer base would respond to an offer that was "easy to get into, with a lower cost upfront." By raising the ongong monthly dues of $33 to $37, the company could eliminate the initial investment while netting the same profit.

2. Fewer Right Words Singer believes there were three important factors in communicating with a customer base via email. * The subject line had to grab the reader immediately * The first couple of lines of the email had to spark an interest * It had to be short, "The email can't be a book."

Singer changed the subject line from "SportsLife - Your own Sports Business" to one that simply mentioned the Company name and the great deal: "SportsLife - free dealership." The second campaign went out with a message that was half the length of the original offer.

Singer's believes his lack of marketing experience was an asset in the email campaign. Singer says it seemed like "common sense," but he pictured what he would want to see when he opens his inbox, what emails appealed to him.

"I just tried to think about what people want, and I thought about what I would want to hear." In a nutshell: shorter, sweeter and more to the point.

"The email we went with was more laid back, and I didn't sugar coat it. Starting a business isn't for everybody; I wanted people to see it for what it was. I don't want anyone to join and find out it's not what it's cracked up to be." The body of the email was not only shorter it was less "sales-y."

3. Make it Personal Using a customer's first name increases the feeling of human interaction. Singer avoids Sir, Ma'am, and even titles like Mr. and Ms. Whenever possible, personalizing responses is best. For instance, one customer mentioned that he was a football coach in his response. Singer made sure to reference that in his email back. "The less cheesy auto-responder messages the better. It's important to make people feel like they're talking to someone; they don't want something generic."

That approach extends to other aspects of SportsLife. Singer says being ready to do anything for a customer, is an asset to everyone involved in the relationship. From giving out his email address and phone number to "hand-holding them through running their business.

We'll sit on the phone with them until they're sure. Because the key to any business is customer service. If you treat a customer right, they'll stay with you for life."

Anyone who replied to the "free offer" was sent an auto-responder email that gave them a username, password and directed them to the website.

Then, Singer replied to interested leads with a more personalized message that basically said, "if you're interested, contact me directly," according to Singer. He gave each contact his phone number and he set up a special email address specifically for those people who responded to the "free offer."

------------ The personalized message--------------A while ago you looked at our program and considered becoming aSportsLife Dealer. Becoming a SportsLife Dealer would allow youto own your own sporting goods business, either full- or part-time. Well, now I have a very special offer for you - yourSportsLife Dealership (regular cost $995) could cost you NOTHINGup front.

Please contact me directly at robert@sportslife.com or 800-909-5433 x 150 to see if you qualify for this very limited timeoffer. This offer expires on April 26th, so if you want moreinformation please contact me right away.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.---------------------------------------------------

Singer kept track of those responses, by keeping each name in his inbox folder. Anyone who replied but did not purchase was then sent an email (or telephoned, depending on how the customer specified) to inform them that the free offer deal would expire in one week.

Singer believes that customer satisfaction is the best gauge of the success of the campaign's success. Honing in on service translates to acquisition campaigns. SportsLife measures revenue based on the one-year contract that customers sign. Each customer agrees to pay the monthly dues for one year and can decide to continue their contract the next year.

RESULTS

The "one week notice" email, alone, resulted in a 29% sign-up rate, based on the number of people who had expressed interest, but not signed up. "Once people got the one week notice, they signed up immediately," says Singer.

Singer has seen a 50% to 75% renewal rate for franchise owners. In his eyes, that is the best indicator that SportsLife is a valued service. "We're doing something right with our service-it's our greatest asset." SportsLife marketers focus on keeping the service and content fresh because they know that after than year clients can get rid of them. "We bend over backwards for our dealers because as long as they're in, we're getting their dues."

What would Singer have been done differently?* When sending out various specials at once, he would have liked to include a code to put in the subject line, so he would immediately know which special each response was referencing.* He says he would have tried to determine which email addresses were "bad," no longer valid or in-use, so that the response rate could have been more accurately calculated.

Post a Comment

Note: Comments are lightly moderated. We post all comments without editing as
long as they (a) relate to the topic at hand, (b)
do not contain offensive content, and (c) are not overt sales
pitches for your company's own products/services.

The views and opinions expressed in the articles of this website are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect in any way the views of MarketingSherpa, its affiliates, or its employees.